Self-reinforcing fabric.



C. B. TEWKSBURY.

SELF REINFORCING FABRIC. APPLlcATIoN FILED ocr. 2.1. 19u.

Patented Apr. 15, 1919.

U19/"Hey m: amm Pneus cc., MomMma.. vus-www". n4 c.

CHARLES B. TEWKSBURY, 0F WEST ROXBURY, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO SAFEGU'ARD TAG- COMPANY, 0F BOSTON, MASSACHUSETT A' CORPORATION OF MAINE.

SELF-REINFORCING FABRIC.

Specification of Iletters Patent. I Patgi-gnterdiApl'. 15, 1919.

Application filed October 27, 1917. Serial No. 198,768.

To all 'whom t may concern: p

Be it known that I, CHARLES B. TEWKS- BURY, a citizen of the United States, residing at West Roxbury, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Self-Reinforcing Fabric, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates broadly to a selfreinforcing plastic fabric or construction adapted for use in bags tickets, tags and the like, vand more especially to such parts of said articles as are provided with fastening or attaching devices of, for example, string or wire.A

Articles which embody the present invention possess the novel property that when they are placed under a stress which tends to disrupt them, they act automatically to reinforce themselves against such disruptive stress and counteract or distribute it; this being oneI of the principal objects of the invention.

Another object of the invention is to obviate the `tendency for the string or the like,-when, in one form of the device a string is employed, looped noose-fashion around a part of the sheet material near one edge ofthe latter,- to crush or break this edge when said string is placed under tension. l Still another object of the invention is to provide an edge-reinforced article, in which the presence of the preferably extended reinforcing element or elements thereof does not prevent the presentation of a flat printing or writing surface upon one side of the article, while the attaching cord or wire is prevented, in the preferred forms of the device, from forming too sharp a bight in said cord at the point Where the latter is most likely to break, when said cord is placed under stress. v

' These and other objects ofmy invention will be hereinafter referred to and the novel and. it is believed, ingenious', although preferably exceedinglyv simple combinations of means and elements whereby said vobjects are attained, will be more'particularly set forth in the claims appended hereto. v

, In'the drawing whichjforms'a part hereof,

I have exemplified preferred forms of'm'y novel construction; but as I am aware of many applications of the'invention and'of various changes and modifications which may be made in the embodiments thereof given by way of exempliication, I desire to be limited only by the scope of said claims. i

Referring to the drawing: v.

Figure 1 is a back view of a tag which exemplifies one forni of my invention.

Fig..2 is a vertical section of said tag; the section being taken on the line II-II of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a similar section, showing the disposition of parts lwhen the attaching cord is placed under 'disruptive stress.. v Fig. 4; is a back View of the upper part of the tag corresponding to Fig. 3, in so far as the disposition of parts is concerned. v

Fig. 5 is la view corresponding to Fig. l but of a modified construction.

Fig. 6 is a view similarto Fig. 5, of a still further fo-rm of the device.

Fig. 7 is a section taken on line VII-VII of Fig. 6. l 4 l l Fig. 8 is a view of the tag shown in Fig. 6 after parts thereof have been deformed by the imposition of stress.

Fig. 9 is a section taken on line IX-.IX of Fig. 8; and

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of a fragment of a bag or the like, showing the application of oneform of the improved construction thereto.

In Fig. 1, the tag bodyr preferably consists of anoblong piece of tough card paper or'other suitable sheet material l, to which is aiiixed, by means of any suitable adhesive, afmore 'or less extendedl sheet or ystrip 2; these parts being so assembled as to retain in place between them a strand or the like of reinforcing materialB. This may conveniently be string and preferably extends parallel andv relatively close tothe upper edge of the tag, from side to s'ide of the latter. l

Asbest shown in Fig. 2, this reinforcement is preferably received entirely into'the, retaining strip 2; the latter having therein a grooiepof substantially thesame depth as Y against which the cord bears, is unreinthe thickness of the reinforcing cord, to the end that the left-hand face of the sheet l, as viewed in Fig. 2, may be vsubstantially flat over its entire surface. This'feature self-evidently affords the best4 writing or printing surface; there being no ridge upon the sheets such as would interfere With the impression of characters from type or with the pen, when printing or writing is being placed upon the article.

The attaching cord or wire .4 of the tag or other article, may be looped through an opening or hole 5 in the latter; and this cord may take the form of what is,'in effect, a slip noose. It will 'be observed that the aperture 5 is disposed at some distance from the reinforcement 3; and at first sight it might be thought that this unusual disposition of said opening was disadvantageous in that the tag material upon the side of this hole forced, and hence is much more likely to tear as the result of a comparatively slight pull upon the tag, This might be the case were this aperture very close to, or substan tially in contact with the reinforcing cord 3. By reason, however, of this disposition of ysaid opening, with respect to the reinforcement, a novel result is attained. As indicated by the arrow adjacent the lefthand side of the cord 1l in Fig. 2, when this cord is pulled with respect to the tag, said cord tends to move in the direction of this arrow, and after suiiicient tensile stress has been imposed, the paper or other substance of which the body of the tav is formed, commences to teary substantia ly on the lines 6-f6, indicated by dots and dashes in Fig. 1. These lines, it will be observed, diverge and atv the same time that this tearing occurs, the action of the cord is such that it usually tends to roll up, in a measure, the torn material, so that finally a more or less perfectly shaped roll 7 is formed, as shown in Fig. 3.

This roll continues to form until such deformation of the sheet materia-l is arrested byl the reinforcement 3, at which time the substantially rectilineal line of contact between the abutment, provided by the reinforcement, and the so formed roll or pad is quite extended; since by the time that the diverging tearing lines 6 reach their limits, the distance therebetween is very much greater than even double the thickness of the attaching cord.

, In other words, were it not for this novel provision land had the aperture 5 been placed' in juxtaposition to the strand 3, the disruptive stress would at once have been exerted would have been applied alongy a line no longer, at most, than double the thicknessA of the cord. This stress would then be exerted through this very short length of this reinforcement, against the layer of Yadhesive immediately therebeyond kand would tend to tear the reinforcementyout of its recess or recesses, the strand 3 being bowed; and as this bowing. continued, the rupture of the layers l and 2 beyond the reinforcement hav- Ying thus once been started, there would be a marked tendency for furtherv yielding toV occur until finally the reinforcing strand 3 would 'be pulled completely out, and the attaching member 4c would then be separated from the tag body. If said tag had been attached to a trunk, for example, then the owner in such case would be very apt to encounter considerable diiculty in re-locating his wardrobe; a diiiiculty which many have from time to time experienced. v Y

Now, on the other hand, however, when an article is constructed in accordance with the present invention so as to, in effect, produce a self-reinforcing device, this trouble is substantially eliminated; because no longer is the thrust of the bight or loop in the attaching cord exerted against what is practically a single point, but rather is it exerted against a line which is at least as long as the distance between the upper ends of the dash and dotted lines 6; land furthermore this stress is exerted through a pad which cushions and distributes it quite uniformly along said line. Obviously, in such case, a very much greater extent of adhesive must give way before there can be any start whatsoever of the reinforcing cord 3 out from between its retaining layers.

As a matter of fact, in practice, it has been -found that the tagis thereby very greatly vhas the radius thereof quite materially lengthened when said cord is compelled to pass around the relatively large roll 7 so that here also the cord itself is, in effect, strengthened.

I have observed, too, that whereas when I had placed the hole 5 in juxtaposition to the reinforcing strand 3 and formed an attaching cord in the form of a noose, as in the cord in question, there is a strong tendency for the bight 8 in the cord, or the parts immediately adjacent thereto, to tear or crush the upper edge of the tag; but that when the tag is formed in the manner shown, so as topermitV of the formation of the. roll 7', this tendency practicallyv Vdisap-` pears. I can only account for this uponl the -theory that as the cord is placed under sufcloser to the upper edge of the tag, until it reaches a point where, when the roll 7 has been fully formed, the line of application of the stress has been so shifted toward the right-hand surface of the tag, as viewed in Fig. 3, that any tendency for the parts of the cord immediately on either side of the 'bight 8 to nip down into said edge, is Ycounteracted by the upward pull.

Whether this theory is correct or not, I cannot positively say, but in any case the Aeffect is to tend to preserve the edge.

' It is of coursevpossible to cause the progressively laterally `extending deformation,

which in this case is the roll 7,-to have a still Wider base, after it has been formed,

by so slitting or notching the wall of the aperture 5', as shown in Fig. 5, as to cause the lines of tear 6 to commence at a greater distance apart. As, however, articles formed in accordance with the construction shown in Fig. l have been found in practice to be amply strong, and since further the cost of Aa punch for making such an aperture as that designated 5 is obviously greater than that vfor the hole 5, the construction shown in Fig. 1 is to be preferred. i

I have also discovered that it is possible to obtain a very similar, although not precisely the same, action, when the attaching member, in this case designated 4:', is simply looped singly through the opening 5, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7.*

Herein, the cord may conveniently be knotted as at 9, to prevent its separation from the tag. In this case, when said cord is placed under operative stress, as in Figs. 8 and 9, the result is to crumple up the sheet material in its path, as indicated at 10, to again form a stress distributing cushion or pad; although one somewhat dissimilar to that above described. If the reinforcing cord 3 be partly embedded in the sheet 1 and partlyin the sheet 2, this crumpling will take place about .equally on each side of the tag, as shown in Fig. 9; and what seems to. occur is that the sheet material tears on the lines 6 which diverge from each other at substantially 90o (the angle of divergence being even greater than that shown in Fig. 1) and while in some places the adhesive layer between the two sheets,

where two sheets are employed, may at times give way, to permit each of the sheets to independently crumple in spots,in lothers 'the two sheets will crumple together. Y VIn any case the strain is distributed along a considerable' extent of the abutment provided by the reinforcement; with the result that the so formed connection is very resistant to rupture.

When the reinforcement 3 or 3f is exf tended adjacent an edge of the article for vany material distance, as shown, it not only performs its function'of providing an abutment 'as above described; but it further strengthens such edge against rupture down# wardly therefrom into the sheet for any con- 'siderable distance, wherever said edge is thus reinforced. l n A While the preferred constructions are peculiarly applicableto or capable of embodiment in tags or the lilge,the invention in itsy broader aspects is by no means limited to such articles, but may be used in connection with various articles of manufacture, such for example as bags and other devices formed of sheet material.

In Fig. 10 I have therefore shownan up.- per corner of a bag 11, provided with cords 4, similarto` thoseshown in Figs. 1 and 2,

for attaching or fastening the respective sides of the mouth thereofv together, or `for supporting the bag.` Y

Herein the sheet material of the bag may be, if desired, quite thin but suificiently strong for the purpose for which the article is` intended, whilev in such case, the edging or strip 2 is of suflicient thickness and stiffness, that when the relatively smallportions thereof (between the tearing lines 6) are deformed and rolled or bent over upon themselves to form a plurality of superposed layers, said portions;r will. in effect and technically speaking, constitute a short beam; since either of the above described pads or masses 7 or 10 may be so considered.

The connecting orfattaching member or device l is attached to the sheet material as shown, to veffect the desired deformation in the latter when said member is subjected to operative stress; and the strand 3, embedded inthe strip 2 coacts with the area A of the sheet'materal `which lies transversely across the line of initial stress, between. the lines B-eB, to establish. an abutment 'forming means to limit the extent of said deformation and support said beam upon one side s Having thus described my invention, what I claim is: A

ll. A self-reinforcing article comprising in combination, an attaching member, sheet material having an aperture for the reception of said attaching member, and an extended reinforcement for said material embedded therein in the path which that part ofthe attaching member which is disposed in said aperture tends to follow when the attaching member is under operative tension, said part being spaced from said reinforcement at such time by a stress distributing pad formed from parts of said sheet material. a

2. A self-reinforcing article comprising in combination, an attaching member, sheet material having an aperture for the reception of said attaching member, an extended reinforcement for said material adhesively embedded therein in the path which that part o-f the attachingmember whichis disposed in said aperture tends to follow when the attaching member is under operative tension, said article having provisions to automatically form in a portion thereof, lying in said path, a stress kdistributing pad between said part of said member and said reinforcement when said member' is placed under said tension.v

3. A self-reinforcing article comprising in combination, an attaching member, sheet material having an aperture for the reception of said attaching member, an extended reinforcement for said material embedded therein in the .path which that part of the attaching member which is disposed in said aperture tends to follow when thejattaching member is under operative tension, said article having provisions to automatically form in a portion thereof, lying in said path, a cushion between said part of said member and said reinforcement, when said member is placed under said tension.

l. A self-reinforcing article comprising in combination, an attaching member, sheet material having vmeans for receiving and engaging a part of said member, a reinforcement for said material, and provisions to co-act with said reinforcement and member toY automatically strengthen the article against disruptive separation ofr itsattaching member therefrom when and as deformation of a part of said sheet material by said member is effected.Y

5. A self-reinforcing article comprising in combination, an attaching member, .sheet material connected thereto for initial and progressively laterally extended deformation yin parts thereof by said member when said connection is subjected to operative stress, said deformation being extendedY laterally with respect to the line of said stress,

and means for arresting said deformation to `enable it to distribute saidl stress .through an area in said material extending transversely to said lineY of stress. v

6. A self-reinforcingarticle comprising in combination, an attaching member, a multiply body of sheet material connected thereto for Vinitial and progressively laterally extended deformation Vof parts of the plies of said body when said connection is subjected to operative stress, said deformation being lmaterial, connected thereto for initial and progressively' extended deformation, of a part of said material when said connection is subjected to operative stress, and means to deinitelyarrestisaid deformation and provide a relatively extended abutment therefor presenting a substantially rectilinear face to the arrested deformation, said face extending substantially at right angles to the line of said stress and the lrectilineal length thereof being substantially equal to the width of said deformation. 8. An article of the class described whic comprises sheet material of suchthickness and stiffness that when relatively small portions thereof are deformed and bent over' upon themselves to form a plurality 'of superposed layers, said portions will, in effect, constitute a shortv beam, a connecting device attached to said sheet Vmaterial to effect said deformation when subjected to operative stress to separate itfrom said material, and

abutment forming means to limit the extent of said deformation and support saidbeam upon one side thereof throughout substantially its` length, the unevenly distrib'- uted load imposed upon said beam onits opposite side by said stress being then substantially uniformly distributed to said abutment forming means through said superposed layers.

9. AV self-reinforcing article comprising in combination, sheet material having means for receiving and engaging an attaching member, a reinforcement for said material, and provisions to co-act with said reinforcement to automatically strengthen the article against disruptive separation of. its attaching member therefrom when and as deformation of apart of said sheet-material by the imposition of disruptive stress therematerial having an aperture for the receppad formed from parts of said sheet ma- 10 tion of said attaching member, and deforterial. mation arresting means attached to` said In testimony whereof I have aXed my siieeli'l materilal in the 1path lvhieh tiat par signature, in the presence of two Witnesses.

5 o t e attac ing mem er W ich is ispose in said aperture tends to follow When the at- CHARLES B' TEWKSBURY' taching member is under operative tension, Witnesses: said part being spaced from said reinoree- RUTH E. F ISKE, ment at such time by a stress distributing CHARLES D. SMETTE,J1'.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C. 

